1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to peripheral equipment such as printers, scanners, copiers and facsimile machines that can be connected to computers via a network.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, a technology has been realized to obtain through Web browsers running on computers logging information of peripheral equipment such as printers, scanners, copiers and facsimile machines that can be connected to the computers via a network as Web content by equipping the peripheral equipment with Web server functions.
Through this technology, various types of information on peripheral equipment can be obtained via the Internet as long as there is a general-purpose Web browser, so that, for example, even information on peripheral equipment installed in a foreign country can be accessed.
However, the conventional technology described above entails the following problems:
When the user accesses, through a Web browser, information on peripheral equipment installed in a foreign country, the user may not be able to understand the meaning of the information held by the peripheral equipment since the information varies by the destination to which each peripheral equipment was shipped.
In addition, although services such as supplying replacement parts become possible by accessing through a remote terminal information on various parts assembled into peripheral equipment, the service personnel may not be able to understand the meaning of component codes since component codes differ by the shipment destination.